The Gourmet's Lil'snack

Not what he seems (Raymond edition)

Raymond let out a sigh full of smoke and knocked at the wall. "Thorne? Can you come to my office, please? I would like to talk..."

She flinched, humming and tail wagging stopping on a dime. Hearing the voice alone where she did made her feel uneasy. "O-okay...." She got up cautiously, leaving her work to head over to the office. She paused as she got inside the doorway, unsure what to do from there. "Y-yeah?" Was she supposed to climb up to his desk?

"Come in." he waves his hand inside. Suddenly, Thorne was floating up to his desk as she was covered in golden light.

She yelped, going stiff as she was lifted by some unseen force. It was only as she was brought closer to the desk that she noticed the golden light, but she still remained stiff and frozen as she stared up at Raymond with wide eyes.

"I have read your note, mind you, but I wanted to know why did you suddenly bring this to me?" he asks as he shows the small plastic chest and finally looks at her and... "Are you okay?"

Thorne didn't know how to feel about being brought to his desk like that. Could he do that any time he wanted, or just when he could see her? And his voice in her home? Could he hear things in there like that too? Her ears were low and her tail was puffed up slightly, stiff behind her. "I-I thought you should have it....I....I-I'm not good with timing." She didn't answer his second question.

He raised an eyebrow at her stiffness. "Ttthaaanks...?" he said not sure what is up with her. "Are you okay?" he asks again.

"F-fine. D-do you need anything else?" She fidgeted, glancing away. He didn't seem upset right now so that was good, right?

"Where does your cheeky personality go?" he asks honestly, disturbed by that meek show.

Her ears tilted down as she took a step back. "S'nothing. C-can I go?" She didn't look at him.

He frowned until he realized something. He sighs.
"Look. I'm sorry that I called you a pest. Even if you touch a sensitive subject about me and Alex, it was not a reason to unleash my stress on you like and I'm sorry about that..." he apologized as he scratched the back of his neck.

She looked up at him then, still pretty stiff but...less so. "....have you looked in the chest yet?" For some reason, she didn't feel like he'd be saying this if he'd seen what was in the chest. No way would he be apologizing to her if he'd seen what was inside.

"Well, yes. And read most of the journals and well...does that bother you?" he asks, tilting his head. Looks like he knows Titiana feelings about him.
"Is that why you gave this to me?"

She shook her head, looking down. "I-it belonged to her and she meant a lot to you....I-I figured you should be the one to have her things and do with them...well whatever you want, really." She put her hands in her pockets. ".....I-I didn't bring it to you sooner because....I-I didn't want you to hate me even more than you already do...." Her voice got small and quiet towards the end, making it difficult to hear.

"I don't hate you though," he said with a frown. Does calling her a pest make her think like that? He looked down at the journals and drawings before deciding to put everything back into the chest before placing it inside of his treasure drawer.

She looked back up at him, furrowing her brow. While she didn't say anything, it was clear she didn't believe him.

Of course, he notices it right away. He took a breath from his cigarette and released it. "You don't believe me. Why?" he leads back to his chair.

"You haven't exactly given me any reason to believe otherwise since the day I got here." Thorne looked away from him again, ducking her head. "If you weren't calling me a pest or a rat, you barely tolerated my existence and made it pretty freaking clear that while you weren't gonna kick me out, I wasn't exactly welcome. Yes, I looked into stuff related to your past and yeah, I probably went a bit too far b-but I only pushed because I care about Alex and you'd have to be blind to not see how much he hurts from this crap. I won't push anymore though...." She took another step back, putting herself rather close to the edge of the desk. "If you don't hate me, I'm still pretty damn sure you don't exactly like or care for me either."